Europe Unleashes Massive Subsidies to Stem Job Losses

Subsidy programs are launched across the continent to prevent widespread layoffs, with more than one million companies signing up

Countries are experimenting with both high- and low-tech ways to enforce lockdowns or self-quarantines. WSJ reporters in Rome, New York and Hong Kong compare their isolation experiences to show how some governments are willing to impose stricter measures to stop the virus. Photo illustration: Crystal Tai

Tom Fairless

Stacy Meichtry

As job losses ricochet across the U.S., Europe is conducting an unprecedented experiment in navigating the economic fallout from the new coronavirus: Persuade companies to forgo layoffs by subsidizing private-sector wages on a massive scale.

More than one million companies across the continent have signed up for subsidy programs that essentially transform their payrolls into a system for delivering billions of euros in stimulus funds directly to households.